


The Hunter

by Loriela



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/F, Future, Hurt/Comfort, not OC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:48:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22235098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loriela/pseuds/Loriela
Summary: Years have passed since the fall of Horde Prime and the end of the Great War. Since then Etheria has struggled to rebuild from the decades of bloodshed.Now as a new threat looms on the horizon Catra must team up with the mysterious Hunter in order to save Etheria once more and achieve the redemption she desires.
Relationships: Catra/Lonnie (She-ra)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	1. I Hate You

**Author's Note:**

> This is all profoundly gimmicky and self indulgent, but I wouldn't be writing for a rare pair if I wasn't planing to indulge myself a little

Most merchants took the long way around the Crimson Wastes. No point running into bandits or any of the natural traps hidden in the sands, especially if your cargo is of the sensitive kind, but some still tried to save time by cutting straight through the desert. Only fools or those in extreme hurry would even consider doing that.

It was in one of those shortcuts that Catra found herself. She calmly guided her cart through the wastes, her desert clothes hiding most of her defining features. Catra was no fool in a rush to die. Today, Catra was bait.

Though her normal duties as left hand of the queen meant she spent most of her time locked in Brightmoon castle with all the princesses, she still took any opportunity she could to be out in the field. Plus she was pretty sure Double Trouble could hold down the fort while she was away on this little vacation. Okay, maybe she couldn’t call it a vacation when thousands of lives were at stake, but that had become the standard over these past few years. 

Catra yawned, she just wanted those stupid bandits to try and rob her already so she had something to do. Almost on cue the bandits did exactly that, jumping out from behind rocks and dunes, weapons pointed directly at her. Catra relaxed, leaned back, and closed her eyes. Sounds of battle surrounded her for a few moments and then there was silence.

“This pass is dangerous,” A strange sounding voice informed her. Of course they used voice modulation, otherwise it would be too easy. “Whatever you’re carrying is not worth your life.”

Catra lazily opened her eyes. Around her were the unconscious bodies of a dozen bandits and before her stood the cause of their defeat, a mysterious figure known only as The Hunter. They were covered from head to toe in scavenged weapons, armor and gadgets from the war. Plates of enchanted Mystacor steel covered an Etherian Horde exoskeleton, a Clone Horde laser cannon was hanging from her back next to a Bright Moon guard spear. Their face was covered by a stylized Horde helmet. They definitely had quite the collection.

“What I carry is more important than both our lives, Hunter.” Catra declared, over dramatically - maybe she was spending too much time with Double Trouble - before tossing away her disguise “And what I carry is news.”

“Catra!” The Hunter’s modulated voice called, full of an exhausted resentment; something Catra hadn’t heard in such a long time it almost felt nostalgic. “What do you want?”

“To do my job,” She answered, dropping from her cart to meet the Hunter face to face. “And to do that I need someone minimally capable.”

“Go ask your princesses,” The Hunter dismissed her, turning around to leave. “I have more important things to do.” With a quick movement, Catra wrapped her whip around their arm, holding them in place.

“No, you don’t have anything more important than this.” Catra insisted, her expression challenging them to do anything funny. “And I’m not sending a princess to do a mercenary’s job.”

“I’m no mercenary!” They declared as they yanked their tied up arm. Catra was pulled fast towards them, but she was ready and landed feet first on their chest, before flipping back and landing on her feet.

“Could have fooled me” Catra joked as she dodged a punch to the face.

“I don’t do this for money.” They argued, blocking one of Catra’s kicks.

“Don’t tell me you’re doing this for the greater good or something!” She chuckled as she spin kicked the Hunter.

“Is that so hard to believe?” They asked, grabbing Catra’s leg and tossing the woman aside. “That some people just wanna do good?” Catra pulled on the whip, using the Hunter as an anchor to right herself as she landed.

“I was just making sure you were the right person for the job.” Catra answered, running back towards them and kicking their feet from under them. “I take it you would be interested in saving a few thousand lives.”

The Hunter jumped up in a single fluid motion. No longer in the mood to answer each other they continued their aggressive negotiations in silence. Catra had to admit that she was starting to enjoy this, there was a certain familiarity to their movements, an exhilarating back and forth that Catra hadn’t had in a long time. Not since her and Adora- No, she wouldn’t think about that.

Catra pinned them to the ground, her face was covered in dirt, sweat, and a bit of blood from a couple of hits that connected, but that could not dissuade her smug victorious smile. Looking down at the Hunter she couldn’t help but have a strange sense of deja vu.

“Do I know you?” Catra asked, releasing the Hunter, but not completely getting up.

“I hate you.” The Hunter snarled as they pushed themselves up.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Catra joked “Are all your negotiations like this?” They did not respond to this, simply climbing onto the cart and waiting for Catra to join.

“Whatever that job is,” They started, not turning to look at Catra as she climbed aboard. “I’m in.”

* * *

The job was simple. Find a group of bandits in the Wastes, kick them all senseless and destroy the giant super weapon they stole from a fallen Horde Prime ship. Easy. Of course, a group that had a giant super weapon and was on their way to hold entire kingdoms hostage was probably very well hidden, but that was nothing that Catra and her new companion couldn’t deal with.

“Why aren’t the princesses doing something?” The Hunter inquired “Or soldiers?”

“Princesses aren’t known for being subtle.” Catra explained, “We need to get this done swiftly and discreetly, otherwise they might act out and fire at random before we have the time to do anything.” They nodded along with the explanation, probably running through some other options in their head.

“What about Adora?” They asked. Adora, not She-ra. That made it a little easier for Catra to figure out who her mysterious friend was.

“Busy somewhere else.” Was all she was willing to say. The Hunter nodded to that too.

“Huntara?” They questioned again.

“Who do you think mentioned you?” She answered and though there was not outward reaction, Catra was pretty sure The Hunter was smiling under their helmet.

The rest of their trip was completely silent. They were both more than comfortable with the sustained silence and neither wanted to share more than was absolutely necessary with the other.

Catra was the first to break the silence when she noticed the familiar pile of bones before them.

“Why here of all places?” Catra asked, groaning at her memories of that bar.

“We need supplies and information.” The Hunter stated matter of factly as they jumped out of the cart.

“If you can call drunken gossip real information…” Catra argued, but her companion made a point of ignoring her and walking into the bar by themselves.

Catra let out an annoyed sigh and followed them in. The bar was still just as shitty as it had been nearly a decade ago and it was definitely just as smelly. Catra leaned against a wall in the back, far from any other patrons, and simply watched the Hunter do their work. They had made a b-line for a lizard person in the corner - probably some contact of theirs - and began talking to them in low growls. So her companion spoke lizard? That narrowed the possible suspects even more.

Whatever the two were talking about must’ve been very engrossing as neither of them noticed a couple of shady fellows approaching them from behind. Catra made no effort to help them out as she was pretty sure they wouldn’t need any.

“There are only two rules in the Crimson Wastes…” One of the idiots announced and Catra had to hold back a groan. Nearly a decade and this shithole was still the same.

Before they could finish that tired line Catra already had her whip tied around their throat. Their friend took a knife from their belt and was immediately decked right in the teeth for it. Next thing they knew it was a bar fight.

Catra jumped over a table to join her companion and almost as a reflex they began fighting back to back, covering each other’s blind spots as they pushed back the bandits and drunkards that surrounded them. That same feeling of strange familiarity washed over Catra once again.

“Did you get the information you need?” Catra asked the Hunter, a little more joy than she would like tinged her voice.

“Not yet.” They answered “Gimme a moment.” And with that the Hunter picked up one of their assailants and put him through a table. Catra had to admit that even though she had spent all day in the desert, that was by far the hottest thing she’d seen all day.

* * *

Their campfire was the only light in the Wastes for many miles, a beacon of gold and red against the darkness that surrounded them. Their meal was not the best, but compared to Horde ration bars it was a delicacy. They ate in silence, the same way they travelled and the same way they set up camp. If the silence was broken, it was only by one of Catra’s brief snarky remarks.

Strangely Catra had become less and less comfortable with the silence as the time went on. Her need for answers was starting to overpower her need for peace and quiet.

“You’re a Horde soldier.” Catra stated. That much she knew to be true, she recognized their combat training.

The Hunter had lifted their helmet just enough to be able to eat the stew they had prepared. They lowered it back down before they spoke again.

“Were.” They corrected before returning to their meal. That simple confirmation was more than enough to get Catra thinking again. Things started falling into place as she got closer to understanding who this person was.

“You’re trying to fix things.” Catra stated, she did not need confirmation. “People accepted you after the war, but you couldn’t accept yourself. You didn’t feel redeemed, so you decided that playing hero was the only way to fix that.” The Hunter stopped their spoon halfway towards their mouth.

“You speak from experience.” They answered, not bothering to lower the mask again. Their voice held an accusation that Catra made no effort to defend against.

“I guess I’ve been there.” Catra admitted “But no amount of playing hero can fix what I did.”

“You’re right.” They agreed, anger flaring in their voice “You can never fix the damage you’ve caused, and you’re not a hero.”

“Are you?” Catra asked, sincerely curious of what they would answer.

“I hate you, Catra.” They deflected.

“You have every right to,” Catra conceded “Lonnie.” The Hunter did not answer for a while, seemingly measuring their options, before finally taking off the helmet entirely.

Lonnie looked tired. Not like she hadn’t gotten any sleep or something, but there was a general tiredness that seemed to seep into every aspect of her expression. The years had not been kind to her.

“Admitting it won’t change things.” She said, before returning to her stew.

“I wasn’t expecting to,” Catra shrugged, acting nonchalantly to hide her worry over the other girl. “It’s just good to hear I’ll be playing hero with someone I can trust.”

Lonnie was one of her fellow cadets, she was among the best, she had stuck around for longer than most and what did Catra do to her? She worked her to the bone, she made her life miserable, pushed her away when she tried to comfort her. If only Lonnie had recovered, if only she was happy now, then Catra wouldn’t feel this guilt.

Lonnie was also the only person who really understood Catra. The only other who, when welcomed with open arms and warm smiles, couldn’t feel anything but pain and guilt. The only one who also had to prove to themselves what the rest of the world already knew, that they were a good person.

“I wish I could say the same about you.” Lonnie spat and Catra did not argue or disagree. Catra knew she had not earned Lonnie’s trust, and more than earned her hatred, but this lack of reaction was not what the other woman expected.

The hunter sighed and looked away from Catra, deciding that her stew was much more interesting right now. Her expression shifted; it struggled to remain angry and annoyed, but it soon gave in to that exhaustion from before, and then to sadness. A sadness that stabbed Catra’s heart like a cold knife.

“If you keep staring I’m putting the helmet back on.” Lonnie declared. Catra averted her gaze.

Silence fell over them once again. This time it was an uneasy silence, a long and unyielding one, one that put Catra on edge. Only the wind and the fire dared break it.


	2. Our Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt continues and the uneasiness between Catra and Lonnie grows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now introducing "sexual tension"

The information they got wasn’t complete. They knew now that Prime’s ship had landed in the middle of a canyon in the Wastes; the awkward forced landing nearly completely covered the area in rocks and dirt and kept the ship hidden from scavengers for years. One of the gangs had recently uncovered it and planned to use the weapons there to get back at the kingdoms that rejected them.

Catra recognized that sentiment. She had felt the same way about Adora, Shadow Weaver, the whole world, even. Back then she would’ve grinded the entire world into dust to fill the hole in her heart. She was different now, and she would not let so many lives be destroyed with that same foolish anger.

They still didn’t know where the ship fell exactly, or where the super weapon would be pointed, or even which of the many gangs was responsible, so they still had a fair share of investigations ahead of them. And that is why they were taking a little trip through the Valley of the Lost hoping Lonnie’s contacts knew something they didn’t.

No, they were the Hunter’s contacts and Catra was travelling with the Hunter now, not Lonnie. They had put their helmet back on and it was back to having the quiet, professional, and constantly grumpy Hunter. Thinking about it now, Catra was kinda surprised it took her a whole day to figure out who they were.

Her companion guided her through shady streets and even shadier alleys, until they found themselves in some abandoned storage facility…or just a shack full of shit, both options were equally plausible.

“You wait outside.” They commanded. Catra opened her mouth to protest, but was promptly interrupted. “He’ll only talk to me. You wait outside.”

Catra sighed and once more waited while her companion did the talking. Part of her wanted them to get this over with quickly so they could get on their way already. The other part wanted it to go about as well as it did last time so she had something to do.

Luckily the former part of her got what it wanted and after a few minutes the Hunter returned, giving her a nod that Catra understood as ‘mission accomplished’. Unluckily, the second half also got what it wanted for as soon as they stepped into the main street they were surrounded by armed thugs. Armed thugs with sleeveless leather jackets and whips. Great.

“Shouldn’t you shit heads be helping with Fright Zone reconstructions?” Catra called out, her hand slowly reaching for her whip.

“You got the wrong gang, girl.” A goat man answered, sounding way too confident for someone who was about to have some broken bones. “We don’t work with those traitors and we sure as hell don’t work for you!”

“So are those the ones we’re looking for?” Catra casually asked the Hunter, completely ignoring the over confident fool.

“Yes.” They answered, hand moving for their spear.

Once more they found themselves in that familiar position of fighting back to back. It made sense now that she would feel this kind of familiarity with someone she had sparred with so many times, but for some reason knowing that it was Lonnie inside of that armor made these moments a lot more strange for Catra.

Lonnie understood her, in some bizarre way. This woman who she barely talked to outside the necessary, who made Catra suffer and was made to suffer by Catra’s hands, who hated her and had every right to. Somehow this woman got her more than anyone back at Brightmoon. More than Adora ever did.

“Do all your hunts end up like this?” Catra asked, trying to distract herself from the turmoil that always came over her when she thought of Adora.

“Not until you came along.” They complained, putting their spear away and turning to face Catra.

“Are you seriously blaming me for this?” Catra asked, incredulous “They all attacked you!”

“I am blaming you, because you are the one getting all the unwanted attention.” Lonnie argued, her voice growing louder as she nearly dropped the Hunter act.

“Says the woman wearing a whole tank worth of weapons.” Catra bit back, exhausted and stressed from the track in the desert, the stupid bandits who kept getting in the way and the unbearable silence that kept grinding at her sanity. At least shouting was better than quiet judging.

“I-” Lonnie began, but Catra would not let her finish.

“You hate me!” She loudly interrupted, “I get it. Join the fucking club!” Lonnie looked ready to strangle Catra, but before she got any chance another bandit rode past them on the back of a raptor. “You gonna shoot them?”

“We’re gonna follow them.” The Hunter answered, Lonnie’s burst of emotion once again replaced by cold professionalism. Catra let out a sigh of frustration and attempted to calm down.

“That thing is way faster than our cart.” Catra stated “A skiff would draw too much attention, so I say we cut the horses lose from the cart, grab as many supplies as we can carry and ride for the rest of the trip.”

“Sounds good.” The Hunter agreed with a nod.

It was mechanical and cold, in a way that Catra was starting to hate. She was this close to getting something out of Lonnie, even if that something was probably her right hook. Losing a few teeth was preferable to enduring the silent hatred from behind that awful helmet.

* * *

Their chase had been less a high speed chase and more a slightly hurried ride through the desert. The raptor couldn’t keep up its speed for much more than a few minutes, and as their mark slowed down so did they. They were careful to keep them just at the limit of what their binoculars could see so they wouldn’t draw their attention and raise suspicion. 

“You gonna take that helmet off?” Catra asked, after a few hours in the desert. She refused to spend another minute alone with ‘The Hunter’.

“No.” The answer was quick and short, delivered with that insufferable voice distortion.

“I already know who you are,” Catra reminded her, “Why even keep it?”

“Why take it off?” Lonnie had to be fucking with Catra at this point.

“Because I wanna talk to you and not some mercenary weirdo.” Catra explained.

“I’m fine not talking.” Lonnie answer and Catra just wanted to jump her right now “And I’m not a mercenary.”

“Well I’m not fine with silence!” She complained, exasperated.

“You were before.” Lonnie retorted, now with even fewer words.

“Maybe because I didn’t know you were my lost childhood friend until last night.” Catra couldn’t believe she had to explain that “I thought you were dead!”

“We were never friends, Catra.” She answered. The words were accusatory, but her tone was tired and maybe even regretful. “You made that very clear.”

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t care when you just up and vanished!” Catra wanted Lonnie to open up a little, but Catra was the one leaving herself wide open. “Fuck, Lonnie. Rogelio and Kyle-”

“Are happily married and living a peaceful life somewhere else.” She interrupted.

“They were worried sick!” Catra argued back “And here you were, all this time, wearing a mask and pretending to be someone else so you could maybe get your shot at happiness, but guess what? You can never be happy by pretending! Believe me, I tried!” Catra only realized how much she had said once it already left her mouth.

Lonnie didn’t answer for a while, leaving Catra to regret every second of her emotional burst, but after a few moments and a heavy sigh Lonnie took off her helmet. She still didn’t say anything to Catra, but at least there was a human face next to her and not a cold mask.

Catra tried not to stare this time, but every time she turned to look at Lonnie she saw the woman’s face going through a journey far more intense than the one they were having. Frustrated, angry, regretful, tired, sad. Lonnie hadn’t had to suppress her own expressions in a long time and now without the helmet her emotions were exposed for the whole world to see.

“After this is done,” Lonnie finally spoke. It was nice to hear her real voice again. “Let Kyle and Rogelio know I’m fine and tell them I’m happy for them.”

“After this is done you could tell them yourself.” Catra offered, but it only earned her a glare. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

She opened her mouth to ask something, but Lonnie lifted her hand in a motion that said ‘halt’. They both stopped their mounts and brought up their binoculars. It seemed their mark’s ride decided that they had done enough running for a day and refused to move from that spot. The following display of hilarious incompetence from their target both amused and confused Catra. How did a bunch of bumbling fools manage to become such a threat to Etheria? Maybe they kept all the competent leaders at their homebase and use the rest as cannon fodder.

“Looks like they’re setting up camp.” Catra commented. It was getting pretty dark.

“Let’s do the same then.” Lonnie added, jumping off of her horse.

* * *

There was no fire tonight for either them nor did their target dare light one. It was a good thing Catra and Lonnie had spent most their lives eating cold and tasteless ration bars or this meal would’ve been dreadful. It still was, but at least they were used to it.

Catra passed her binoculars back to Lonnie as her turn on ‘idiot watch’ was over. She lazily rolled over and looked up at the stars that illuminated them, shining as bright as they had the day she escaped from Prime, expanding endlessly towards the horizon. If anything good ever came from the war, this view would be it.

“I was wondering something.” She mentioned lazily. “Why the whole ‘Hunter’ thing? Do you really need a secret identity?”

Lonnie didn’t answer for a while and Catra felt like she pried into something she shouldn’t.

“I wasn’t planning on it at first.” Lonnie explained. “I used the helmet for protection. Never understood why Rogelio insisted on fighting without it.” She shook her head and allowed a small smile at the memory. “I also never made a point of introducing myself before helping people, then one day someone called me The Hunter and I never bothered to correct them.”

“You could have said something back when we met.” Catra complained, but it was halfheartedly. More to poke fun at Lonnie than to really display displeasure.

“I said ‘Catra!’” She repeated in that same annoyed tone from before, earning a short laugh from Catra. “And ‘I hate you’. I was practically telling you my name.”

“You underestimate how many people still hate me.” Catra joked along. Lonnie chuckled at that. “I was worried it could’ve been Octavia under the mask the whole time.”

“Like Octavia ever fought that well.” Now they were both laughing. When did they get this friendly?

“Who said you fought well?” Catra teased. “If I recall correctly I was the one pinning you down.”

“That is because I was holding back on you!” Lonnie defended “Just because I wanted to work some tension out on your face doesn’t mean I wanted to kill you.”

“What? Did years in the desert give you She-ra powers or something?” Catra joked, turning around to see Lonnie detaching the chest plate from her armor. Inside there was a single First Ones relic connected to the exoskeleton she was wearing.

“Stole one of Hordak’s old models before leaving.” She explained “I could probably kick you all the way to their camp!” She gestured towards their target while looking smugly at Catra.

“Well, then take that off. We’re having a rematch.” Catra declared as she got up and began stretching.

“Excuse me?” Lonnie asked, surprised by Catra’s eagerness. “We have to keep an eye on them!”

“If they start running in the middle of the match we just catch up to them later.” Catra shrugged. “Not like it’s gonna take that long.” Catra offered her a challenging smile. “Afraid I’ll be the one on top again?” Lonnie smiled back.

“In your dreams, Catra.” She answered and began taking off her armor.

Several of Catra’s dreams had in fact started with Lonnie stripping off her armor and ended with Catra on top, but she was definitely not gonna mention that, so she settled with just waiting for her adversary to get ready with feign impatience.

The clothes Lonnie was wearing under the armor were simple and plain, offering a little extra comfort under the mountain of bulky metal she carried daily. She was definitely still wearing more under her armor than she did in those dreams.

Their sparring match was quick, but intense. Catra had speed on her side and was more than used to fighting stronger opponents, easily sidestepping and dodging anything Lonnie threw at her. Lonnie, on the other hand, had the stamina to keep fighting regardless of what Catra threw at her and enough strength in that right hook to keep Catra on her toes. They would both have to rely on wits to take the upper hand and that was something both women had quite a lot of.

In the end they were both laughing. They were tired, dirty and sweaty, but they were laughing. Even when Lonnie tackled her to the ground and pinned her in place Catra still smiled, not even defeat could take that from her.

“Told you I’d be on top.” Lonnie teased, with a smug smile on her face that was somehow brighter than any of the stars that framed her. “Do I win something?”

‘Me’ a part of Catra wanted to say. The same part that was now bombarding her with terrible ideas she would absolutely regret and questioned why her past self insisted on thinking about herself on top when this was clearly much more fun.

“Yeah,” Catra finally said, banishing any stray thoughts about Lonnie’s biceps. “You earned my silence. Congratulations, I’ll stop bothering you now.”

Lonnie looked disappointed, maybe even sad and Catra immediately regretted her decision. Lonnie pushed herself up and began putting on her armor again, making a clear effort to not look at Catra.

They both returned to their respective corners of the camp. Lonnie went back to watching over their target, and Catra accepted that she was gonna fall asleep full of regrets once again. But as she closed her eyes, she heard Lonnie’s voice.

“I think I’m gonna refuse that prize.”

And Catra fell asleep with a smile.


	3. Like Everyone Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lonnie and Catra track their mark to the wreck of one of Prime's ships. Preparations are made to invade the bandit camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. Lot's of things happened this month and I barely had any chance to write at all

Lonnie had been surprisingly chatty the next morning. As they chased after their mark once more, she retold some stories of her time in the wastes and even some odd rumors she heard whispered about herself.

“You know how I only started doing this once the portal opened?” Lonnie asked, not really wanting or waiting for a confirmation “Because of that a lot of people think I’m some sort of alien bounty hunter who came to Etheria in search for more exotic and dangerous prey” She put on a gruffer voice as she spoke those last words, getting a loud laugh out of Catra. Lonnie couldn’t help but smile at that sound.

“How do people even come up with that shit?” Catra asked once she managed to contain her laughter.

“Right? And you haven’t even heard the worse ones” Lonnie answered, with that same bright smile from last night “Like there is one where I lost both my parents to bandits and then I spent my whole life training with assassins so I could someday take revenge on-”

Catra raised her hand and they both halted. She took her binoculars and looked towards the horizon. Among the mountains and canyons in the distance there was one pass that seemed to have crumbled onto itself, the same pass their target was currently riding towards.

“Looks like we found where that ship landed” Catra commented. She turned to see what Lonnie planned on doing now, but the woman was busy looking through the scope of her rifle.

“There seems to be a small settlement at the entrance of the pass” She informed Catra “Probably not their main camp. I suggest we go up and around and rappel onto the ship from above”

“How good is that scope?” Catra asked, dumbfounded by how far that thing could see.

Lonnie took a shot and their mark dropped unconscious onto the floor.  
“Good enough” She answered with a smug smile.

“Show off” Catra complained. This was a challenge and she would absolutely take her up on it.

* * *

The climb around the pass was surprisingly easy. Catra had always been the best at those climbing exercises back in the Fright Zone and Lonnie was perfectly equipped for this kind of terrain. Now from their vantage point they could see the clear trail of destruction the massive warship left as it crash landed.

Beneath them the pass seemed closed off by a terrible landslide, but knowing what to look for it was easy to find bits and pieces of the ship poking out from the rubble. Yet there were no signs of life down there.

“You think they’re hidden inside the ship?” Lonnie offered.

“It would be the most defensible position” Catra agreed “Good thing one of us knows their way through Prime warships” 

“And how did you get that information again? Right, you got captured” Lonnie taunted playfully. Catra played along, sticking her tongue out at Lonnie and getting a chuckle out of her “Okay, I’ll take us down and you guide us through the ship” She secured a grappling hook to a rock and extended one hand to Catra “Hold on”

Catra took her hand and was pulled close. Held safely against Lonnie’s chest as she began rappelling down the pass and towards the ship. Those stray thoughts about Lonnie’s defined muscles returned with full force. Catra refused to look up as to avoid seeing the undoubtedly smug and overconfident look on Lonnie’s face.

She wondered if Lonnie could do all this without the powered exoskeleton, probably not with the same ease, but she had seen what Lonnie could do last night and she wouldn’t be surprised if she could. The more she thought about it the more tempted she was to look up and see how Lonnie looked doing this.

Before she had the chance, her feet hit the ground and she pushed herself free of Lonnie’s embrace, trying to focus on more professional thoughts. When she turned around to look at her companion she looked almost hurt. It was the second time she looked at Catra like that in less than 24 hours. Catra mentally kicked herself for that.

Lonnie sighed and put her helmet back. She too had to be professional now and, liking it or not, the helmet was useful. It would just be a weird for Catra to get used to the helmet again after nearly a whole day of normal Lonnie.

“I’ll set up a breaching charge” Lonnie declared in her distorted voice “You lead the way once we’re there”

“Where the fuck did you get a breaching charge?” Catra asked. Lonnie gave her a look that, even with the helmet, Catra understood meant ‘don’t ask’ “Fine. Ready when you are” She sighed.

With military precision Lonnie placed and detonated the charge, leaving a whole with the perfect size for the both of them to enter. They jumped in to find an old, dusty, and poorly lit corridor. It looked exactly the same to either side of it, but Catra already had a good idea of where they were.

“This is the way” Catra declared and began marching down the corridor. Lonnie following behind.

“And what way is that exactly?” Lonnie asked.

“We gotta hit engineering first to see what parts of the ship are still standing so we can have a better idea of where to go” Catra explained, taking a turn as she spoke.

After a few more turns and a considerable amount of walking they found themselves in a large open room, covered wall to wall with complex machinery, several layers of scaffoldings traversed the room and at its centered sat a computer console. Catra completely ignored the proper path leading there and simply jumped through the machinery and climbed onto the platform with the computer, leaving Lonnie to take the long way around. 

“When did you learn how to operate alien computers?” Lonnie asked as she calmly walked down the path to meet her.

“I had to learn a few tricks before my daring escape” Catra answered, half jokingly. Lonnie shook her head and continued walking, but as she went further into the room she couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was someone else in there with them.

Quickly wiping around, Lonnie drew her rifle and aimed towards a figure in the shadows between the machines. The figure darted through the shadows and Lonnie followed in pursuit until it was cornered.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to escape, I swear!” The shape pleaded as it threw itself on the ground before Lonnie, revealing itself to be a scraggly old man in torn clothes “I got lost is all. I’ll get back to my post immediately” the man scampered to his feet and began running for the exit

“Hey, wait!” Lonnie called, causing the man to halt in the spot “We’re not here to harm you” The man turned around with a confused look on his face, that was soon replaced by one of admiration.

“The Hunter” He whispered and Lonnie had to contain a sigh at the title “We are saved!”

“Saved from what?” Catra asked as she landed behind Lonnie “Who is the old guy?” The man took a trembling step back at the sight of Catra’s whip.

“She is a friend of mine” Lonnie explained, surprising both the man and Catra “We are here to deal with the gang”

“Then you’ll free us?” He asked. Catra shot him a confused look and he explained “They raided our village and when they found out we knew how to work this machinery they forced us to build weapons for them. Please, you must be here to save us”

“You built those weapons?” Catra asked “So you know how to break them?”

“Yes, of course” The man agreed “We can teach you how to destroy what we created”

Lonnie and Catra looked at each other. They had a new plan.

* * *

An entire village hidden inside the hangar bay of a massive spaceship. That was not something Catra ever expected to see, but here she was now, crawling through a vent and watching the poor villagers be dragged from place to place to work on the machinery of the ship. In the farthest corner a massive tent hid what Catra could only presume was the super weapon, but dealing with that was Lonnie’s job.

Catra dropped from the vent, silently landing behind one of the thugs roaming the village and swiftly taking them out. One down, several dozen more to go. Time to prove she was still the best at her job.

One by one the thugs dropped. Not all of them, for that would be a waste of her time, just enough for the captives to have an opening, but not enough for the other thugs to notice. Stealth came naturally to her, like martial arts came to Lonnie and Rogelio and like most things came to Adora.

“Take the back door” Catra whispered to a few villagers as she opened one of their tents “The way is safe, but keep quiet” They moved as fast as they could, whispering ‘thank you’s as they passed Catra. A wave of satisfaction washed over her. She never expected to enjoy helping people as much as she did.

Catra started making her way to the next tent when the ground shook beneath her. She looked towards the large distant tent just in time to see it being torn apart by a terrifying explosion and from the green flames walked a colossal spider bot. Dozens of weapons adorned its sides and on its back stood what Catra knew was the ship’s main cannon.

“Change of plans!” A way too familiar voice commands from the ship’s speakers “We march today and tomorrow the Fright Zone falls and I’ll have my revenge!” 

Several question flashed through Catra’s mind at that moment. How was Tung Lashor still alive? How did he manage to command this whole operation at all? But the most important of all those questions was, is Lonnie okay? Catra ignored the bandits as they ran to keep up with their leader’s war machine. She dashed for the wall of green flames, hoping that Lonnie was still alive somehow. 

She couldn’t lose Lonnie now, when she had just found her again. She lost her when she pushed her away, she lost her when she fled to the Wastes, she refused to lose her a third time. Even if she had to burn in her place, Catra would not let Lonnie die here.

A dark shape emerged from the flames. Her armor was charred, the outer plates melted, the visor cracked, her weapons were completely destroyed, but she was still alive and she wasn’t stopping. She limped past Catra and began following the escaping bandits.

“What are you doing?” Catra asked. She would have held Lonnie back, but the heat from her armor kept her away.

“Chasing them” Lonnie coughed out. Clearly struggling to breath.

“There is no way you can go after them like this” Catra said as she jumped in front of Lonnie.

“We can’t let them reach the Fright Zone” Lonnie declared, trying to make her way around Catra, but she wouldn’t let her.

“And we won’t, but if you don’t get help right now you will die” Catra pleaded.

“I’m fine!” She insisted “Now get out of my way”

“Lonnie, I’m not-”

“Get out!” She shouted.

For a moment their roles were swapped. A young Lonnie tried to comfort a very tired Catra. ‘Go! Leave like everyone else!’ Catra screamed and Lonnie scampered away. They froze in place as the memory hit them both. Lonnie stepped back, looking anywhere but at Catra.

“I-” Lonnie started, before collapsing on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have to go back and re-edit some of that stuff since I kinda rushed this one out the door
> 
> Also did I shamelessly reference Predator, Batman and Mandalorian? Yes and I don't regret it

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this mess and want more quality SPOP content go check out [shera-dnd.tumblr.com](https://shera-dnd.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also I'm probably gonna post notes about the fic later over there in case you're curious about that kind of stuff


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